Battle of the Slopes

The Battle of the Slopes was a battle of the Vietnam War which was fought on 20-22 June 1967.

On 20 June 1967, a detachment of troops from the US 173rd Airborne Brigade were helicoptered into the heart of the Central Heartlands of South Vietnam at Dak To, where North Vietnamese regulars were said to be threatening a special forces camp. They were airlifted into landing zones hacked out of Hill 1338, a steep slope in the jungle. The US paratroopers walked for two days in an attempt to hunt down the enemy and then set up camp on the evening of 21 June, and an entire North Vietnamese battalion of 500 men coincidentally set up camp on the other side of the ridgeline. At 6:58 AM the next morning, a US patrol from Alpha Company stumbled into a squad of North Vietnamese, and the Americans withdrew and struggled to establish a perimeter. Within minutes, they came under relentless AK-47 automatic fire. The NVA mounted repeated attacks, drawing closer each time. Alpha Company radioed for air and artillery support, but the triple-canopied jungle blocked the spotters' view. At around noon, Charlie Company was sent in to rescue the trapped men of Alpha Company. However, they were unable to push down the hundreds of meters towards Alpha Company. North Vietnamese troops entrenched on both sides of the trail held back Charlie Company until dusk, when the shooting died down. By the dawn of 23 June, the NVA had melted away, and Charlie Company found what was left of Alpha Company; out of 137 men, 76 were killed, with 43 being shot in the head at close range. Charlie Company found just 9-10 North Vietnamese bodies, and there were no bodies found nearby, ruining the US' hopes of having a high NVA body count. Ultimately, the NVA's annihilation of an entire US rifle company proved incredibly demoralizing for the US.